Re:Parents who want to recover kids trying to allay their own inadequa

[Guest guest]

I believe it is a very unfair thing to say about the mothers who will leave no

stone unturned trying to help their child that they do so because of their

felings of inadequacy, or that they do not love their children unconditionally.

Indeed, many families love their children so very much they are willing to

sacrifice career, their savings and retirement and nearly every waking moment in

their efforts to recover their child to the greatest degree possible. One could

just as easily say that those mothers who are willing to give up right away and

pretend their child could never get any better only do so because they are so

self-absorbed or lazy they are unwilling to expend the type of effort it takes

to utilize every tool in the box.

Another mistake that the author is making is equating absence of evidence with

proof of inneffectiveness. Since several of the primary non-trad therapies for

autism are based at undoing the damage caused by conventional medical programs,

and since nearly all medical research is funded and controlled by the large

corporations that profit from the products which are suspected at triggering

autism it is actually not very surprising that no body of evidence exists.

While I agree that ABA does indeed help many autistic children, I must point out

that there are only a handful of clinical trials to support its use, these

studies are not without valid criticisms ranging from lack of random assignment

or comparability of test to control subjects, and it has never been demonstrated

to be effective when used in non-clinical settings where the control over the

program is not strictly attended to.

The mothers of autistic children have been by various factions since Kanner

first described the condition, from the years of being blamed as refrigerator

mothers to today's paternalistic dismission by " experts " who are quick to tell

them why it is not vaccines (for one example) without being able to tell them

what it is. The last thing these incredible women need is to be dissed by one

of their own just because she doesn't understand why they would exhaust every

viable possibility to help their child.